Pandemonium (Next Gen) for N-Gage
New on the Next Gen, it's a classic title (from the Sony Playstation and the original N-Gage launch) available for download. But is Pandemonium still fun?
Pandemonium is an old title, with its roots back in the original Sony Playstation days. But it's a new title for the Next Generation N-Gage platform. Or is it? Because those who know their mobile gaming will remember this as one of the original N-Gage games on the Series 60 platform of the 'Taco' and QD.
The core gameplay has not changed since then, with the same levels and control mechanics in place. While taking place in a 3D realised world, with shadows, corners and incredible architecture, the world is in fact a 2D platformer that just wraps around the landscape. That makes the controls really easy to understand and use while on the move... you can run to the left, run to the right, and jump. If you've picked up a weapon, you can fire that as well.
Of course you're going to open it up!
Compared to some of the more ambitious third person viewpoint shooters (such as Resident Evil Degeneration), Pandemonium has a restricted control set, and is all the better for it. While still not up to the physical delight of the D-pad on the first generation N-Gage's, Pandemonium's controls are a delight to use on the latest converged Nseries devices.
The plot is your typical family fun fantasy affair, with you and your best friend having been left home alone while your parents go off on holiday, leaving you behind with a box engraved 'J. Pesci' and instructions to not open it (as if!) or the ills of the MacGuffin will escape into the world and it would take you forever and a day to collect them up as they get scattered through the land (or something like that).
The level design has held up well since it was laid out in the mid 90s – it's interesting that Ideaworks-3D have not altered anything in the maps that I can see. What has been added to the title are the cut-scene graphics between the worlds, which are in turn split into a handful of smaller maps. Perhaps it's more accurate to say they have been restored now that the capabilities and storage of the N-Gage platform has improved, because these were present in the original PSX versions.
Putting the two versions side by side, there is very little difference. For sure, the screen resolution has been increased, and the resulting increasing of pitch (pixels per inch) makes the QVGA graphics look just a little bit sharper and more detailed, but the underlying game is still there, still responsive and still addictive.
And there's the lesson. For all the swish graphics, pretty spinning viewpoints, Pandemonium is a simple platformer that has been well designed. While it was a good console game, the short levels and ability to return to the game at the starting point of the next uncompleted level make it a great game for the casual gaming market.
Titles like Pandemonium are the foot soldiers of any gaming platform. In its first N-Gage iteration, it was the loyal batman to Tony Hawk and Lara Croft. Now, as the Next Generation has created its beach-head and is looking to break out of a gaming Normandy, Pandemonium is steaming up the road towards Caen. [Enough with the analogies, already! - Ed]
It won't gather the acres of critical praise as did Reset Generation, the name recognition of FIFA 20xx, or the anticipation of Worms World Party, but it represents the titles that make up the majority of a gamer's diet on a platform. Everything it represents is exactly what Nokia's gaming platform needs.
It's not ground breaking in gameplay (how could it be, it's a ten year old design!) but it just works. Within minutes of picking it up and choosing one of the two lead characters to travel with through that map, you'll be not only jumping and running around to get to the end of the levels, but have your curiosity piqued just enough to replay the level to find the secret areas to get that elusive “100% of items collected” message at the end.
To welcome back Pandemonium was a delight for me – I had completely forgotten it was on the list of upcoming Next Gen titles. When I asked the rest of the team if I could review it, they all pointed out I had 'reserved' it ages ago. I'm pretty sure anyone downloading the title (with its incredibly generous demo, yaay) will have just as pleasant a reaction.
AAN Score: 75%
-- Ewan Spence, May 2009.
Review Discussion
ah! tzer2, could you please (obviously, if you can) post a screenshot comparison of pandemonium n-gage 1 and n-gage 2???
thanks in advance =D
I think it should be good as compared to past
Here's Pandemonium on the original gen N-Gage:
Here's Pandemonium on the next gen N-Gage platform:
It's a lot easier to see what's happening on the new version, there's a lot more space on the screen around your character.
one more thing to consider...
this is a port... from n-gage =D and it shows that not every port is a bad thing (like, unfortunately, all until now)
direction pad - directions
centre key - jump
button A (media key stop) - jump (same as centre key)
button B (media key play/pause) - fire
...which work extremely well, they're just like using a game boy.
They should be the same on your N95 8GB. The "9" key for fire is only meant for people playing the game in vertical mode.
The * key for changing character is only available just before you start playing a level, so it doesn't really matter which key it is because you're not going to be pressing it during the game proper.
But even if you don't like those controls, you can redefine the controls from the game's "options" menu so they can be whatever you want them to be.
| As you mention WWP, is this a good point to ask if there's a review en route? If so, could I ask for comment on 5th ed touch integration? I can see that working brilliantly for Worms and it would strengthen the case I'm building up with myself to get an N97 when it comes out... |
We have no idea at all how they will integrate touch controls into the games on the N97. As far as I know, no one outside Nokia has played any N-Gage games on the N97 yet.
My guess would be that Nokia's first party titles will integrate touch more quickly, with the third party stuff from other publishers catching up gradually over time. That's just a guess though, I haven't actually tried N-Gage on the N97 (I haven't actually tried an N97 at all yet!).
| Yes there is a WWP review waiting to be published, but we're saving it for a special reason. ;-) |
| We have no idea at all how they will integrate touch controls into the games on the N97. As far as I know, no one outside Nokia has played any N-Gage games on the N97 yet. |
The N97's resolution is almost four times larger than the current QVGA N-Gage phones, which means it has to work a lot harder to display graphics. Will the N97's hardware be able to cope?
2D games like Worms or Reset Generation shouldn't be a problem, but 3D stuff like Bounce or System Rush may not be so easy to do at 640x360 pixels.
We've got a few of the N-gage classic titles that have been revived on the N-gage platform, heres to hoping more are on the way, wouldn't mind seeing new or improved versions of games like PATHWAY TO GLORY, ASHEN, heck I'd even like to see a new Operation Shadow!
As for re-releases the two games I'd most like to see brought back for next gen are Glimmerati (lots of people bought Asphalt so there's a market for arcade racers) and Rifts (which never got a fair chance to reach a wider audience on the original gen).
Sorry Tzer2 I didn't give enough detail. The control mapped to 9 is for Fargus's special attack only. The other character special is double jump so is not affected. I've tried remapping it in options to a key which isn't hidden under the slider, but you can't do this without loosing one of the other keys?
Am I seriously the only one with this problem?
What they should have done was allow you to use the centre key for either attack or weapon, but unfortunately the centre key is permanently set to jump.
There is a way to fix the problem you raise: Change the jump key to 9, which doesn't matter because you can still use centre for jump. You can then use the A key for the special attack and the B key for the weapon (or the other way round if you prefer). This isn't a perfect solution though because the centre key isn't really the best place for jump, it makes it difficult to steer while jumping.
Another solution is to set the B key to attack, and then change B to weapon when you have the weapon, as the weapon is more useful than the tumbling attack.
I think not everyone notices because a lot of people just stick with Nikki throughout the game, she's the default character and the double-jump makes her a bit easier to use when trying to reach coins.